Sacred Encounters: From Rome to Jerusalem
Tamara Park
IVP Books, 2008, 336 pp., $18.00
Not everyone can afford a trip across the Holy Land and Europe, so a book such as this one can be a nice compromise. It’s more than a memoir of experiences, but offers narrative commentary of a journey taken by Tamara Park and her friends.
Along the way, Tamara interacts with a host of strangers whom she asks man-on-the-street questions of, such as, “Who is God to you?” There’s not a lot of glue here, which provides honest dialogue without tidy conclusions. Some readers may walk away more frustrated than inspired, as the conclusions the author comes to have more to do with respecting the faith journey of others versus declaring that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. As Tamara puts it, “[If we love God and others] does it matter if God is described as YHWH, or Jesus or Allah?”
Obviously this book is not for everyone and should be read in community to process the open-ended questions it raises.
